My Freemasonry | Freemason Information and Discussion Forum

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

How deep is your Masonic bond?

Phre-massen.nash

Registered User
Week Six - Yesod

Bonding is the ultimate emotional connection. While the first five qualities (love, discipline, compassion, endurance and humility) are interactive, they manifest duality: the lover and the beloved. The emphasis is on an individual's feelings, not necessarily on mutuality.

Bonding, on the other hand, is a complete fusion of the two. Without bonding no feeling can be truly realized. Bonding means connecting; not only feeling for another, but being attached to him. Not just a token commitment, but total devotion. It creates a channel between giver and receiver. Bonding is eternal. It develops an everlasting union that lives on forever through the perpetual fruit it bears. Bonding is the foundation of life. The emotional spine of the human psyche. Every person needs bonding to flourish and grow. The bonding between mother and child; between husband and wife; between brothers and sisters; between close friends. Bonding is affirmation; it gives one the sense of belonging; that "I matter", "I am significant and important". It establishes trust - trust in yourself and trust in others. It instills confidence. Without bonding and nurturing we cannot realize and be ourse lves.

Bonding channels all five previous qualities into a constructive bond, giving it the meaning "foundation". Whereas all other human feelings are individual emotions, separate stories of a building, each a necessary component of human experience, bonding channels and integrates them all into one bond which creates a foundation upon which the structure of human emotions firmly stands. Bonding is giving all of yourself not just part; it is not one emotion but all of them. So Yesod completes the spectrum of the first six emotions.

The foundation of Yesod is different from an ordinary foundation. It does not just rest beneath the higher levels of the structure, but encompasses them all. An effective bedrock of the emotional psyche cannot remain separate but must include and permeate all the emotions. Only then can bonding be constructive and everlasting.

Day One of Week 6: Chesed of Yesod
Love is the heart of bonding. You cannot bond without love. Love establishes a reliable base which allows bonding to build on. If you have a problem bonding, examine how much you love the one (or the object) you wish to bond with. Do I try to bond without first fostering a loving attitude? Is my bonding expressed in a loving manner?

Exercise for the day: Demonstrate the bond you have with your child or friend through an act of love.
 

Phre-massen.nash

Registered User
My bond in Masonry runs deeper than my bloodline, sometimes. All too often at times family can overlook things that you say or do, because you are family. I wish my bloodline would call me out on somethings that I or others do. When a family member does a certain thing, we tend to brush it off as tht's just him being him.

When it comes to Masonry we tend to hold each other to our obligations, our words, and actions. My bond is my obligation, my actions, and my duties as an officer. If your bond is not what it needs to be, then stand upright as a Man, as a Mason, and Square your actions.
 

JTM

"Just in case"
Premium Member
I'll be honest, if my older brother needed something, he would come to me. And in response, I'd help him out. Family is more important than anything else to me.

I don't know that you are really being honest with yourself when you say that in Masonry we tend to call each other out more than family does. I know that the brethren that I now consider family do indeed call me out at any mistake just as my family does, however, when I meet new brethren at events or Grand Lodge, we're more keen to be accepting mistakes that would be contra-masonry.
 
Top